The Importance of Conditioned Stimuli in Cigarette and E-Cigarette Craving Reduction by E-Cigarettes

Martijn Van Heel, Dinska Van Gucht, Koen Vanbrabant and Frank Baeyens
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Martijn Van Heel: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Dinska Van Gucht: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Koen Vanbrabant: Interuniversity Institute for Biostatistics and Statistical Bioinformatics, KU Leuven and University of Hasselt, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Frank Baeyens: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: This study examined the impact of four variables pertaining to the use of e-cigarettes (e-cigs) on cravings for tobacco cigarettes and for e-cigs after an overnight abstinence period. The four variables were the nicotine level, the sensorimotor component, the visual aspect, and the aroma of the e-cig. In an experimental study, 81 participants without prior vaping experience first got acquainted with using e-cigs in a one-week tryout period, after which they participated in a lab session assessing the effect of five minutes of vaping following an abstinence period of 12 h. A mixed-effects model clearly showed the importance of nicotine in craving reduction. However, also non-nicotine factors, in particular the sensorimotor component, were shown to contribute to craving reduction. Handling cues interacted with the level (presence/absence) of nicotine: it was only when the standard hand-to-mouth action cues were omitted that the craving reducing effects of nicotine were observed. Effects of aroma or visual cues were not observed, or weak and difficult to interpret, respectively.

Keywords: e-cig; experimental study; conditioned stimuli; sensorimotor; aroma; visual cues; nicotine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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